CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 48: BENEATH THE WHITE ROSE BUSHES

The living room lights were off.

At dusk, under the dim evening sky, the man wore his usual black suit. His sharply contoured face was half-hidden in the shadows, showing no expression.

However, for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, Su Xingyu instinctively sensed he was upset. Feeling somewhat uneasy, she awkwardly asked, "Why aren’t the lights on?" She said this while making her way to the wall to press the switch.

The light burst into brilliance. The cold white light of the post-modern industrial style spread like water, illuminating the clean and simple living room in full view. Only then did Su Xingyu notice the stack of newspapers on the glass coffee table in front of the man, the entertainment section spread open with a bold headline — [’Cloud’ Fall/Winter Fashion Week special issue cover leaked, D.B. diamond photographer suspected to be someone else?]

Su Xingyu instantly froze, feeling as if the blood in her veins was going to solidify.

She restrained her trembling and cautiously looked at Lu Shifeng, noticing his hawk-like sharp gaze fixed on her.

Her heart was racing, and her lips were turning pale.

She nervously laughed, trying to act nonchalant: "I’m a bit tired, I’ll go rest in my room now."

After speaking, she turned and was about to head upstairs.

"Aren’t you going to explain?" Behind her came Lu Shifeng’s deep voice.

Su Xingyu’s steps halted as if weighed down by lead, unable to move. She suppressed the heart that was almost jumping out of her chest, and barely said, "Explain what? I don’t understand."

Lu Shifeng’s face was calm, a kind of brutal coldness that masked emotions. He simply sat there, looking at her from across half the living room, his words hitting her heart one by one like knocks: "Someone showed me this news and said several photographers at ’Cloud’ magazine were arguing over this photo. They all claimed that with Ling Weilong’s skills, it’s impossible to take such a photo, suspecting it to be synthesized. But after investigation, it was found that the photo had no signs of being synthesized, leading to rumors that Ling Weilong hired a substitute photographer."

"I..." Su Xingyu really wanted to say she hadn’t heard of this matter, but in fact, not long ago, several photographers inside ’Cloud’ did argue, and it was quickly suppressed by Cang Er. Su Xingyu had thought it was just a minor disturbance, but unexpectedly, it leaked into the press and even reached Lu Shifeng?!

She didn’t know how to explain to dispel Lu Shifeng’s suspicions.

Thinking back and forth, she found she could only say three words: "It’s not me."

Three pale and powerless words.

Lu Shifeng’s lips twitched slightly, and for a moment, Su Xingyu had the illusion that he was sneering.

He still sat on that leather sofa covered with a soft, thick wool blanket, in his white shirt and black suit, without even moving the hand resting casually on the armrest, but the pressure he exuded was immense. Though he was sitting, slightly raising his head to look at her standing by the stairs, she felt she was the one being looked down upon.

"Don’t admit? That’s fine." Lu Shifeng seemingly did not intend to entangle with her over this topic, "I will help you resign from ’Cloud’ over there. From now on, you stay home for me."

She was stunned: "Lu Shifeng! You can’t ruin my job!"

"The one who ruined your job is yourself." Lu Shifeng sat on the sofa, calmly, "Those who violate the contract must pay the price. Su Xingyu, I have already given you a chance, tolerated you for not staying home peacefully as the young mistress, yet insisted on going out to work, but how did you repay me? You acted against my wishes, lied, and went against what I dislike most—you should be grateful, today you are my wife, if someone else were in your place, they would not be standing well before me."

His calm voice made her shiver coldly.

She made a last-ditch effort: "It really wasn’t me..."

This time, he didn’t even bother a sneer.

She was locked up by him, in a luxurious yet cold villa.

Lu Shifeng forbidding her from going out, making phone calls, surfing the Internet, or doing anything that communicates with the outside. She protested to him, argued, but what she got in return was his more brutal suppression. That devil-like man clearly told her: "Su Xingyu, before you learn how to be a compliant young lady, I will never let you go out."

Angry to trembling, hysterical: "Lu Shifeng you can dream! I will never in this life, next life, comply to be your young lady! If you want to find such a woman, go ahead! Divorce me! Why marry me, I never liked you!"

His expression turned ugly, tossing her onto the bed, punishing her harshly.

She hurt extremely, yet still tearfully said: "Divorce me! Divorce! Lu Shifeng we don’t have any feelings, separating would be better..."

Whenever this happened, his look was cold and fierce, tormenting her until she was exhausted, unable to speak anymore.

Su Xingyu dwindled day by day, her expression dazed.

She no longer wanted to speak with Lu Shifeng, nor compromise to him. Without photography, losing everything she loved in life, what’s the meaning of living.

It was midsummer, the weather very good.

She was confined to the small world of the villa, idly sitting in the backyard wasting time.

Those pure white roses planted when she first married were all in bloom, layer upon layer of petals swaying gently in the wind, full of grandeur, with lingering fragrance.

She just gazed blankly at those white roses for a long time, watching petals fly off the branch, riding the wind over the courtyard wall, going afar. If possible, she wished herself to be like those white petals, even just splendid for a summer, yet free and unrestrained, without anyone to bind or torment.

Thinking like this, she heard a loud noise.

The sound of trees rustling, something heavy seeming to have fallen.

Su Xingyu turned around, saw a girl fall from the east courtyard wall, dressed in a delicate gown, laying pitiably in the smashed white rose bushes.

Su Xingyu: "..."

The girl: "..."

"Are you... alright?" Su Xingyu asked tentatively. Is this a little thief coming to steal? Such wall climbing skills, really hard to watch.

The girl whimpered a few times, finally raised her face, clearly pained yet glaring fiercely at Su Xingyu: "Don’t you know to help me up!"

... These days, climbing into someone’s yard, destroying their flowers and still so justified, really rare, right.

Su Xingyu glanced at the girl’s face in front, with just one look felt a headache—

That face was too breathtakingly beautiful, and too famous, not a thief, but a person supposedly more troublesome than a thief...

Xia Ling.

The world-renowned pop diva.